Morning plenary brings celebrations, somber remembrance and a whole lot of ORD-07
Amid ongoing review of the Ordination Task Force report, the assembly’s first substitute motion stirs up very Presbyterian excitement
MILWAUKEE — Nearly an hour and a half of Tuesday morning’s 2½-hour plenary was devoted to the slow process of considering each component recommendation within ORD-07’s Ordination Task Force report, continuing the work where the Assembly left off on Monday evening and ending before the final report could be discussed and voted on. Luckily, the first hour of the plenary gave commissioners and other Assembly-goers an opportunity for more lively engagement.
The gathering began with a powerful word from Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, bringing greetings from the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, which she serves as president and general secretary. The bishop thanked the PC(USA) for its essential and ongoing contributions to the national ecumenical movement, praising its theological depth, courageous scholarship and leadership.
“You, PC(USA), have shown us that doctrine and discipleship belong together, and what we confess on Sunday must be lived on Monday,” she said. “And that the church is the strongest, not when one tradition stands alone, but when every tradition brings its best self and its best gifts to the body of Christ.”
With encouragement and instruction from the bishop who said the room was too quiet, Presbyterians were compelled to shout in affirmation and rise to their feet as she called for Christians of varied traditions and denominations to “walk together, children,” proclaiming that “when we walk together we discover that Christ is already among us and walking with us … when we serve together the world catches a glimpse of what the kingdom of God looks like.”
After a brief update from A Corp President Ian Hall about the impact of General Assembly actions on the denomination’s per capita, Assembly leaders followed McKenzie’s instruction for the PC(USA) to “strengthen its witness” with a powerful but somber affirmation of transgender lives and acknowledgement of the violence trans people experience. The Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of Presbyterian Life & Witness, the Rev. Jihyun Oh, invited those present into a moment of remembrance and lament as the names of trans people killed in 2025 and 2026 were spoken aloud and shown on the screen. Afterward, GA Moderator the Rev. Tony Larson offered a prayer to the God who calls us all beloved.
As the plenary shifted back to business items, GA Moderator the Rev. CeCe Armstrong took a personal moment to thank those who prayed and checked on her while she was feeling ill on Monday. Then Moderator the Rev. Charlotte Lohrenz and Vice-Moderator Eugene Richardson of the Committee on Theological Education and Ordination took the platform and moved that the Assembly’s work on ORD-07 be temporarily postponed to consider ORD-11 instead, which called upon the Assembly to honor two PC(USA) educators with lifetime achievement awards. In reaction to some unease around this move, Larson reassured commissioners that this move would give the Assembly “a win” at the start of their work.
The two people recognized and honored in ORD-11 — who were introduced to the assembly by Austin Seminary President the Rev. Dr. José Irizarry — were the Rev. Dr. Frances Taylor Gench and Dr. James Hudnut-Beumler. Brief videos were shown for both Gench and Hudnut-Beumler, with colleagues and former students speaking about their lifetime of meaningful contributions to the church, as gift educators and theologians.
Gench was present at the morning’s plenary, and the decision to move up consideration of ORD-11 allowed her to be in the room while she was celebrated. Both award recipients were given a standing ovation during the plenary, with Gench and her husband, retired PC(USA) pastor the Rev. Dr. Roger Gench, taking it all in with clear emotion from the back of the ballroom. The overture confirming their award passed the Assembly by a vote of 423 to 1.
ORD-07 was then reintroduced, with Larson asking the committee moderator to share a brief summary of what each of the report’s separate recommendations entailed. Larson also reminded commissioners and advisory delegates that they would address each recommendation individually, allowing time for amendments and changes, before opening the floor for discussion and vote on the report as a whole.
Over the course of the next 90 minutes, there were half a dozen amendments and amendments to amendments offered on multiple recommendations, with Theological Education and Ordination Committee members taking the mic multiple times to give insights into the committee’s own process and decisions. Item C, which proposed senior ordination portfolios as a standardized alternative to the existing senior ordination exams, dominated much of the discussion. Teaching Elder Commissioner the Rev. Heather Prince Doss proposed striking the “two-thirds majority vote of presbytery” required in Item C in order for candidates to make use of the portfolio alternative, and after input from multiple committee members and others, that amendment was approved.
Item C also led to the Assembly’s first substitute motion of GA227, which stirred up an audible reaction among the more polity-obsessed Presbyterians in the room, though not quite the same level of gusto garnered by Bishop Vashti’s earlier words.
The substitute motion proposed the creation of a task force to study and develop a detailed process for the senior ordination portfolios in an attempt to address concerns of scope and timeline, but it was ultimately voted down.
Speaking as a resource person, the Rev. Alex Rodgers, manager for Preparation for Ministry and Exams at PL&W, answered several questions proposed by the Assembly, and shared details on a proposed timeline for implementation of Item C.
“To honor this work, to give this work the time, attention, and resources it needs, to ensure careful implementation and opportunities for fruitful collaboration, the goal implementation date will likely be fall 2029,” Rodgers said.
Another amendment that proposed a shift to gender-neutral language was approved before commissioners voted to limit debate going forward to one minute in recognition of time constraints.
No changes were proposed to Item D, Item E, or Item F of ORD-07, which respectively reaffirmed the nonhierarchical nature of the varied ministries of the church, granted commissioned ruling elders voice and vote at presbytery meetings and provided standards of evaluation for Commissioned Ruling Elder training. Ruling Elder Commissioner Barry Parks moved to reintroduce ORD-07’s original Item E, which proposed renaming “Commissioned Ruling Elders” to “Commissioned Pastors” and was struck from the report by the committee. Parks’ amendment was not approved by the Assembly.
Teaching Elder Commissioner the Rev. Mari Turner, who served on the committee, proposed a lengthy amendment to Item G, which would add the ability for presbyteries to ordain ruling elders into the item's larger recommendation to “fully incorporate immigrant fellowships and new worshiping communities into the life of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).” This component was also a part of the task force’s original recommendation, but failed to get approval from the ORD committee. After comments both for and against from two other ORD committee members, the Assembly voted down Turner’s amendment by a vote of 181 in favor and 260 opposed.
With one item on ORD-07 remaining to be considered, Armstrong arrested the ORD report to allow for lunch, leaving any final changes, and debate and vote on the entirety of ORD-07 for the afternoon. The Assembly did ultimately vote in favor of ORD-07 as amended, 389-85.
Before commissioners and delegates were dismissed, the Stated Clerk shared that the offering from Tuesday morning’s worship had raised over $8,000 for Common Ground Wisconsin, a local ecumenical organization. The Stated Clerk also lifted up a request for prayer from Malawians shared by Doug Tilton, a Global Ecumenical Liaison for the PC(USA) in Africa.
YAADs Michael Ofori and Ethan Chaparro also led the Assembly in a sending prayer.
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